Use Soap to Empower 60 Rape Survivors in Mali

Fourth report from the soap-makers of Mali

This is the fourth time we have reported on our program in Mali, which helps 60 survivors of armed sexual violence to produce and sell soap.

The good news is that our original appeal has been fully funded! Eighty-three donors have given $7,660, which exceeds our goal ($7,500). Thank you!

The question is – whether to extend the appeal. After much discussion with our Malian partner, Sini Sanuman, we have decided to raise the target to $15,000. We realize that you did not donate with this in mind and hope you will not object to receiving reports about this exciting program that you have helped to launch.

So why have we taken this decision – and how have your donations been spent? Our program supports two centers, in Bamako and Bourem, where rape survivors are trained to make soap, school uniforms, and embroidery. This builds their confidence, teaches them useful new skills and also brings in an income. Our estimate is that 8,447 Malian women and their families have benefitted from training since 2014. Over 10,000 women have learned how to reduce their exposure to sexual violence at outreach sessions organized by the program.

Soap has played a key part in this, as I was able to observe during an evaluation mission in October. I watched a group of beneficiaries from our center in Bamako sell their soap in a local market (Photo). They were led by Aissata, who lost her parents in 2012. Aissata cries when she is left alone but the training has also given her confidence and turned her into a leader. She and her group kept 60% of whatever they sold at the market and deposited the rest in a soap account (Sini Savon) to be invested in the future.

Trainees like Aissata (not her real name) produced 27,258 bars of soap in 2016, exceeding our target of 25,000 bars. The program was also strengthened by several careful investments that were made possible through your donations. These included new soap molds, a storage shed, new packaging, and scent, The program also began keeping detailed records showing the amount of soap produced and sold. Improvements like these have impressed our other donors. Many were suggested by our Peace Fellow Rose Twagirumukiza, who we introduced to you in an earlier report.

We have exciting plans for 2017 which can be summed as follows - scale up and sustain. Demand for the training has proved so great that Sini Sanuman will open two more centers this year, in Bamako and the northern town of Gao. The government of Germany has pledged funding and the Malian Ambassador in Washington is delighted to see a major investment in the highly strategic, but insecure, north of the country. We will offer soap training not just in the four centers but also in the community, through women’s groups like Moussou Kalanso (photo) which has offered membership to several former program beneficiaries. This means that they will continue to make and sell soap after they leave our centers, building on the skills they have learned.

And of course our work in Mali will continue to inspire our activities here in the US. We hope to deploy another graduate student from a US university to serve as a Peace Fellow at Sini Sanuman and experience first-hand what it means to work on the front lines for women’s rights in Mali.

Finally, we will continue to promote the program through American friends like Merry May from New Jersey (photo), who has assembled a brilliant camel quilt from Malian embroidery, and students like Rachael Hughen (photo) who has sold Malian soap at George Washington University. Merry and Rachael understand - like you - that the right kind of investment will be put to very good use by these remarkable women.

We will continue to keep you informed and would welcome your feedback! Thank you again!

Links:

• Soap-making at the Bamako Center
• News bulletin on the soap project